How do you budget for 'one-offs'

Jagraf

We have a great little app which we sync with our phones, so every time we spend we record.

Works fine, we can see just how much we are really overspending :eek:

One big issue is bits of food. Popping to the supermarket etc. we can sort this.

The biggest problem we have is one offs. They pop up every month.

This month, we have had:

Dentist work £150
New school shoes £40 - thought they would last til end of school
New driving licence (that was a shock, renewal :eek:)
2 x new passports
New lock on back door

The thing is, these are expensive items. There are more too. This has doubled the budget we accounted for.

How does everyone else deal with these one offs?

MandM90

Could you budget X amount to put aside each month for a random expenditure contingency fund (maybe eBay/carboot stuff to add to the pot) then if it reaches a large amount, pull out half for a nice treat/weekend away?

Which app are you using BTW - sounds like a great idea!

WantToBeSE

I put a bit aside every month for school related expenses, which covers uniform, shoes, trips etc.

For the dentist, i would also put aside an amount every month for that, based on your previous years expenditure in that area.

For the passports, i would take that from my savings account.

For the odds and ends like the back door lock and driving licence, i have a 'general household' section in my savings that is used for that, and also a separate section for car related expenses.

maman

It must be really hard when money's short but I'm sure the real only answer is to build up savings. So, my default position is to buy needs rather than wants and anything left goes into savings. Personally I don't save in separate pots, just anywhere I can get a reasonable rate of interest. You need a good buffer and then perhaps think about any treats. I'm not talking about little treats like a meal or bottle of wine (I think you need a little to keep you sane) but big things like holidays and gadgets.


The app sounds a good idea similar to a spending diary. It should help you realise, not only is it expensive to call into shops too regularly but also whether you're buying bits and pieces (like snacks) when you're meant to be just buying milk!

MandM90

Like maman I keep my money together (all our money is spread across Santander 123 current accounts so we get 3% on it and use CCs for spending to gain cashback)

Right now all savings go towards the new house but before we had a spreadsheet with "pots", so though all my money is in one big lump I have pretend pots

suki1964

You do need to build up a savings pot. Now you can see where you are spending unessecarily , it's those savings you keep back

My own personal comfortable pot is £1000, however I have had a lot of dental work this year ( still ongoing) and a pretty expensive trip away so it's hovering around the £500 mark but each week a little more gets added

Like mamam, I only spend on needs. Wants come from savings and if I haven't got it then I can't have it - simple:). It's strange at first questioning every spend but it soon makes sense esp when that unbudgeted spend comes up you have the money there to cover it without going into overdraft or bunging it on credit

FairyPrincessk

We sort our budget out at the beginning of each month. All of the regular bills go into a 'housekeeping' current account and when I calculate that amount I also add in money for any one-offs. We also pay ourselves spending money and all of the rest goes in savings. We have a minimum target amount to put in savings each month but if we have more than that it goes into the account too. If something unexpected comes up during the month then we generally dip into savings to cover that cost, and we usually have a bit over our 'minimum' target to use for those things although if we're getting close then we try to cut the housekeeping budget for a few months to keep it topped up. So basically, we try to save extra over our savings target so that we have a cushion before we have to dip into our 'real' savings. Each year the money we saved gets moved into another account that we don't touch and we start the savings targets over. We can access that larger sum if there were a real emergency, but for our day to day needs we work with the smaller savings account and any 'overages' in that are what we use for emergencies. At the end of the year we can either use any accumulated overages for a treat (like a holiday) or we can put them towards building up our long-term savings goals even faster, so there is incentive for us to keep putting extra in savings, which can be tough when you're saving for something that is a long way off in the future.

While there are sometimes things that crop up completely unexpectedly, most things we know about and can plan for them. For example, we knew the cat would need her booster jabs in a particular month and those wouldn't be covered by insurance, you'll know when passports, insurance payments etc. are coming up so you can plan for those a few months in advance by starting to top your savings up a little extra so the money is there when you need it. You may not be able to plan for new school shoes late in the year or appliances breaking etc. but you CAN plan for the fact that there will be things you can't plan for. You might consider creating a category of budget called 'unplanned.'

GreyQueen

I'm looking at an unexpected expense right now; a back tooth lost its overlay last night, which means that there is very little tooth left and I expect it will have to be crowned. Have an emergency dentist appt this morning, but suspect that will be a temp fix-up and the proper work will have to be booked in later.

I have a reasonable buffer in my account at all times, so shouldn't have to dip into savings to cover this. Most years my (private) dentistry bill is £100 which is two check-ups and two scale & polishes. Every few years there is something major going on, but I'm 50 now, and these things happen.

I don't think you can budget for all eventualities, and I've been keeping my numbers for about 20 years now. Perhaps just have a budgetary line captioned Emergencies and, if it isn't used, transfer the money to savings?

[Deleted User]

I have several accounts ,one for holiday spends, which has left over loot from food purse every month chucked in(nice little account that builds up over the year as I also shove £50.00 a month in there as well)

I have serious savings which I add to each month and rarely gets touched unless needed for big spends Then I have my 'Happy Cash Stash ' for treats for myself or to spend on my DGC.
Every month I take enough out to cover regular monthly expences and food budget (around £130 odd)food,window cleaner,gardener etc .Once all my direct debits and bills are covered of course the rest goes into a long term savings account that rarely gets touched.I have always saved for big items and done without if I couldn't afford them,but its just the generation I'm from perhaps, as a small child growing up first in the east end then in Blackheath in London my late Mum imbued on all of her children 'if its worth having its worth saving for' and she had a fear of debt of any sort, so apart from years ago when we had a mortgage that was about the only debt my late OH and I had.

But perhaps as you get older you seem to see, that often, if you think twice before spending then chances are you won't bother.although like everyone else I have had the odd mad urge to splash out I do try to think once,think twice(doesn't always work )
I am very much an upcycle sort of person and hate waste of anysort if I can help it.I had quite a bit of expence last year with redecorating my house and this year probably the only thing I will have to spend out in any large amount is having my back steps to the garden re-done as my gardener is going to put a ramp in, instead for me, as with age, steps with a stick are getting more difficult, and probably dangerous as well (they are starting to crumble a bit ,like me ,with age :):))
I do like to keep an eye on my spending though and budget carefully for things I need,not necessarily want :):)

january_23

Jagraf wrote: »

The thing is, these are expensive items. There are more too. This has doubled the budget we accounted for.

How does everyone else deal with these one offs?

We do our best to budget for things like this. Money gets put aside each month.

Example - we get annual travel cards to cover zones 1-4 of London. We take that cost and divide by 12 and each month that gets put aside.

Dental and optical costs are worked out on a 'what we spent last year' basis and we work out monthly cost and put that aside.

Something like passport we would also budget for but in the year up to it needing renewal.

We also have a budget for things if they break/give up and so need replacing.

Basically we work on an annual expenditure and budget monthly for it. This way the only spending that is a suprise should be something like getting invited to a wedding within a year already budgeted for, but then that is where we use savings.

cat4772

Jagraf wrote: »

How does everyone else deal with these one offs?

I have a decade savings account that I put money into for things that crop up every decade, like passports. Except children's - apparently they need doing every flipping five years:mad: (that caught me out this year:o)

I have a spreadsheet that adds up replacement costs for one-off items e.g. TV, fridge, Freezer, washing machine, passport etc. Things that have a limited shelf life, that might need replacing every ten years or so get entered on my spreadsheet and about £15-£20 a month is squirrelled away to cover these costs. My daughter's passport is due for renewal this year, DD2 is next year. Husband is 2017 and mine in 2021, so I shouldn't deplete the pot in any given year and there is always a bit left. But this pot of money is for replacements and not to buy things in the first place. Those I have to save for (or get second hand on freegle or gumtree or do without until I've saved up).

If I don't have to replace an item after 10 years (my fridge is currently 15 years old, I still put money away each month - a £150 fridge is £1.25 a month for ten years, overpaying means I can either buy a better fridge or have a little pot of money to spend on something truly unexpected.

I found the budget brain a really good first step and thinking about my budget. The next useful thing is asking how much would you need to spend to replace everything at the end of it's life e.g. TV or fridge. We assume insurance covers these things but the reality is that we will need to replace things at the end of their working lives (or do without) and budgeting for them makes life a little bit easier.

Cat.x